Google allows users to turn off their search history.
While search engines like DuckDuck Go already exist for the people with privacy concerns, many of us still prefer to use Google as our default search engine. Google, however, keeps a record of every search you do on your smartphone, PC or tablet. So, here's how you can stop Google from keeping notes of all your searches.
How to turn off Google search history on PC, Mac
Open up your default browser and head over to this link
Now, log in using your Google account if prompted
Once logged in, look for the "Go to your Web & App Activity" link and click on it
Now click on the pencil icon next to the Web & App Activity and then toggle it off
Once you complete the above steps, Google should stop recording your search history.
How to turn off Google search history on Android, iOS
Open the Google app on your smartphone
Head over to the more option
Now, look for "Search Activity" and tap on it
Under the Activity controls section, turn off the Web & App Activity toggle
While it might be great for security and privacy reasons, it can be unsuitable for people who rely on their search history for certain reasons. In case you temporarily wanna search something privately you can always use the Incognito or Private mode in the browser on your PC or smartphone.
Microsoft Windows 10 has been around for years now and it has received numerous updates since its release. In case you are planning to switch from a Mac or Linux based system or you just finally decided to upgrade from Windows 7, here are the top 5 features you will love in the new operating system.
Action Center
Action Center on Windows 10 is pretty helpful.
Windows 10 has a space for notifications called Action Center. This space also allows users to toggle certain settings instantly like Airplane mode, Wi-Fi and more. While the action centre was not that useful in the past, with the recent updates it has become more intuitive and useful. Now, users can even customise how they like to receive the notifications with Focus Assist.
Windows Hello
Windows Hello allows faster unlock.
Windows 10 has a security feature called Windows Hello. The feature is used to authenticate Windows login using biometric authentication. This can be set up with the help of special Windows Hello cameras or fingerprint sensors available on a few laptops these days.
Seamless Transition
With Microsoft's recent addition of the sync feature on Windows 10, users can now seamlessly switch to a new Windows PC or laptop. Most of the changes the user makes in the Windows settings syncs on to the user's Microsoft account and the settings come back as soon as the user logs into a new PC. These settings include Wallpaper, Taskbar settings and much more.
Integrated OneDrive
OneDrive gives 5GB free cloud storage to every user.
OneDrive is Microsoft's own cloud service that now comes pre-installed on Windows 10. The app automatically backs up all the important files on Desktop, Documents and other folders. This way the user will not lose the data in case of any hardware failure or a ransomware attack.
Unlike Mac and Linux, the Windows operating system is the most suitable for gamers. It supports almost every PC games out there. Additionally, it also gets the new Xbox app which allows users to play Xbox games on their Windows 10 based laptops or desktops.
Vivo Z5x sports a 6.53-inch full HD+ hole-punch display with a 2340x1080 pixels resolution and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio.
Vivo has launched a new mid-range smartphone in China, dubbed Vivo Z5x. It comes with features like a 6.53-inch hole-punch display, Snapdragon 710 processor, 5,000mAh battery and more. The device will be made available in three colour options Aurora, Extreme Night Black and Phantom Black.
The device is priced at CNY 1,398 (approximately Rs. 14,400) for the 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant, CNY 1,498 (approximately Rs. 15,400) for the 6GB RAM/64GB storage variant, CNY 1,698 (approximately Rs. 17,400) for the 6GB RAM/128GB storage variant and CNY 1,998 (approximately Rs. 20,400) for the 8GB RAM/128GB storage variant.
The company has not divulged any details as to when it will be launching the device in the other markets including India.
Vivo Z5x sports a 6.53-inch full HD+ hole-punch display with a 2340x1080 pixels resolution and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor paired with an Adreno 616 GPU.
The device comes with 4GB/6GB/8GB of RAM along with 64GB/128GB of internal storage expandable up to 256GB via a microSD card. It runs Google's Android 9.0 Pie operating system with the company's own FunTouch 9 skin on top and is backed by a 5,000mAh battery.
Vivi Z5x sports a triple camera setup on the back consisting of a 16-megapixel primary sensor paired with n 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. On the front, we get a see a 16-megapixel sensor for taking selfies.
The physical keyboard on the smartphone is long out of trend but still is something companies make
We all remember the year 2007 when Steve Jobs got on stage to announce the first iPhone. It was the first phone that came with multitouch display support and a capacitive touch panel. Before that touch screens did exist, but they could only read one touch at a time.
In simpler terms, you could only touch the screen with one finger/stylus at a time. Apple iPhone changed it all. And with that change came the first phone without a physical keyboard. The keyboard can come and go as needed, freeing up space, which was earlier taken by a physical keyboard. We have come a long way in smartphone technology from that, but it all started there.
So, I was in the office, just another regular day at work and my co-worker noticed that I have a habit of using my laptop to reply to messages, may it be on WhatsApp or Slack. I usually read the messages on the phone, then pull up the web interface and reply to the messages.
That was strange according to him, because I could directly reply off the phone when I saw the messages. This got me wondering why I tend to gravitate towards the laptop to reply to messages. Was it the bigger screen or the physical keyboard?
So I set out to see whether using a physical keyboard really makes a difference or not. During the time I typed articles on the phone, a tablet and a laptop. I used an instant messaging service, Telegram to chat using the same three devices. Which is when I experienced the difference. The physical key presses were not only faster but less tiring on the hands and more natural.
The feel of physical keys cannot be matched with any touchscreen
I opted for a keyboard cover for the tablet and even turned on vibration on keypress to try to get the feedback. The type case was flimsy and not well built, but it made a lot of difference when it came to doing any real typing. Yes, things like scrolling and browsing the web were easier with a touchscreen, but you can have a touchscreen with a physical keyboard on a tablet or a laptop.
This made me realize the need for a physical keyboard on a modern day smartphone. So I did what a responsible person would do, went ahead and bought myself a smartphone with a physical keyboard. After using the device for two weeks, FYI that's the amount of time we spend on a review unit at minimum to test it out, I figured out one thing.
The feel of a physical key press is not the only thing that makes the laptop my go to preference. It's also the ability to mash on it and feel something responding that makes people including me want a physical keyboard to type on.
Humans want to feel a part of something, want to feel loved and have a response to their actions to remind them they are not alone, the touch screen cannot really offer that experience. The physical keyboard not only makes it faster and less tiring for the hands but also gives us a feeling of it responding to our actions.
To test my theory out, I let other people in the office use the device I got and they all felt that the physical keyboard is much faster and easier to type on for long durations after they got used to actually pressing keys on their smartphone.
The physical keyboard on smartphones is like a big massive ugly bezel that can't be used to hold your smartphone.
Sure, there are some flaws with the physical keyboard. It robs valuable screen space, it doesn't go away when you don't need it. But the advantage of the physical keyboard during typing is something we need in our life. That's why I guess manufacturers like Blackberry still makes these smartphones and people still buy them.
So in a nutshell why smartphones with physical keyboards exist in 2019 is because there are people who want a physical keyboard to type on and they want it everywhere, even on their smartphone.
While smartphone cameras are getting better, they have still not reached the level of a true DSLR camera. So, if you are hunting out for one, here are the top 5 DSLR cameras available in India for under Rs. 50,000.
Nikon D5600
Nikon D5600 is one of the more popular choices.
If you are looking for one of the best DSLR cameras under Rs. 50,000 price bracket, you cannot go wrong with the Nikon D5600. The camera comes with a 1.5x crop sensor. It has a sturdy design and a great battery backup as well. As for the features, it gets all the basic 2019 connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC support.
Sony Alpha A68
Sony Alpha A68 is one of the best Sony DSLR cameras you can get under Rs. 50,000. The camera comes with great features like better control over colour toning, phase detection with 79 autofocus points and much more. Most importantly, it also offers a great battery life. It is also quite lightweight and user-friendly making it much easier to get used to for the beginners.
Canon EOS 800D
Canon 800D comes with a flip display.
In case you are looking something from the house of Canon, the Canon EOS 800D should be your pick. The DSLR comes with the company's proprietary Dual Pixel AutoFocus technology, which is helpful in taking great pictures. The camera also gets a Digic 7 processor, which helps in processing all the images and videos.
In case you are a beginner and do not want to spend a lot on your first DSLR, the Nikon D3200 is a great option. The camera comes with a 24.2-megapixel sensor and it is capable of recording 1080p videos at 30fps. It has great software and it is one of the best cameras for beginners.
Canon 1500D
Lastly, the Canon 1500D is also a great option under Rs. 50,000 mark. The camera comes with the DIGIC 4+ processor and it also gets features like Canon’s Scene Intelligent Auto mode for simple point-and-shoot photography.
Google Duo has finally introduced group calling feature.
Google's popular video calling application, Google Duo has recently received a new update with a couple of much-awaited changes. The update brings two big changes for the Indian market, group video calling and data saving options. As the names suggest, the group calling feature allows users to add up to eight people on a video call and the data saver feature helps the user in saving the 4G data on a call.
Shweta Vaidya, Product Manager, Google Duo, said in a press statement, “India is already the largest market for Duo globally, and we’re committed to building for India, helping people have a seamless and delightful experience connecting with their loved ones face to face. As a part of that commitment, we are happy to announce two new features on Duo today: Group Calling and Data Saving Mode.”
The company has been testing out the feature since earlier this year. There have been reports that the company is also soon going to introduce a new Low Light mode, which will improve the lighting through software algorithms when making video calls under low lighting conditions.
While the whole attention is towards the group video call feature, there is another big new feature called Data saver. As the name suggests, the feature will help users reduce data usage during video calls by up to 50 per cent. This is really helpful when making calls with a poor internet connection or when you are simply running low on 4G data.
WhatsApp to soon get allow users to share their status as Facebook stories.
WhatsApp has been working on a couple of features lately and as usual, they first test them out with their beta program. With the applications recent 2.19.151 beta build, the Facebook-owned giant has finally allowed users to share their WhatsApp stories over Facebook stories.
According to WABetaInfo, the latest beta build of WhatsApp brings two new features, one of which allows users to share their WhatsApp status as a Facebook story. They further mention that there is a new “Add to Facebook Story” button that will only appear if the Facebook application is installed on the device.
Apart from that, the company has been working on a couple of other handy features as well. The second feature that has been spotted on the recent release is the new Profiles QR Codes feature. Just like Snapchat and Instagram, WhatsApp will allow users to share a QR code, which will carry the necessary information like their name and number to start a new chat as soon as the code is scanned.
As mentioned earlier, the features are currently a part of WhatsApp 2.19.151 Beta for Android. If you want to test it out right now, you can sign up for the app's beta program via the Google Play Store. However, general users will need to wait for quite some time until the features finally arrive on the stable version of the application. The company has not yet given us an estimated time of release but it is safe to say that it can take more than a month.
Here are some gaming laptops that can play PUBG over 60fps.
Gaming laptops have been getting cheaper lately and we are seeing laptops capable of playing AAA titles at 1080p below the price bracket of Rs. 1 lakh. While there are plenty of options to choose from, we have come up with a list of top 5 gaming laptops available in India under Rs. 1,00,000.
Do note that the prices we have mentioned below are based on the current prices on Flipkart. These prices might fluctuate anytime and you might be able to find a better deal in your neighbourhood store. Also, all the laptops mentioned below come with Windows 10 Home pre-installed.
Acer Predator Helios 300
Acer Predator Helios 300 has these red accents that give it a more gaming look,
Acer Predator Helios 300 is one of the best gaming laptops in the price range. The device brings an Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card with 6GB of VRAM, which quite sufficient to play AAA titles at 1080p. Further, the laptop gets an Intel Core i7 8th Gen CPU coupled with 16GB of RAM. For storage, Acer gives you a 1TB HDD and a 128GB SSD. All of this comes in at a price tag of just Rs. 91,990.
MSI GL63
MSI GL63 is one of the most value for money laptops.
If for some reason you are not ready to get the Acer Predator, the best alternative to it would be the MSI GL63. The laptop brings pretty much the same specifications for a little higher price tag at Rs. 94,990. The specs include an Intel Core i7, Nvidia GTX 1060, 16GB RAM, 1TB hard drive and a 128GB solid-state drive.
Dell G3
Dell G3 is a gaming laptop that you can even take with you to the office or a class.
While Acer and MSI are offering some of the best value for money laptops, if you want a better after sales support, you might wanna pick up a Dell machine. The Dell G3 is one of the best gaming laptops under Rs. 1 lakh. The device comes with the Intel Core i7 8th Gen CPU paired with the Nvidia GTX 1050Ti (4GB). It comes with 8GB of RAM, 1TB HDD and 128GB SSD. The Dell G3 is available at a price of Rs. 88,990.
Lenovo Legion Y530
Lenovo Y530 has a stealth design.
If you are looking for one of the best and stealth looking laptops, the Lenovo Legion Y530 should be your pick. The laptop comes 15.6-inch FullHD IPS Panel with narrow bezels on the three sides. It is powered by the Intel Core i5 8th Gen processor paired with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card. All of this comes in with a price tag of Rs. 98,890.
While the Asus FX504 is quite old now and even has a successor called FX505, it still makes a compelling option. It is one of the very few laptops to come with a 120Hz FullHD display under this price bracket. It further gets a GTX 1060 (6GB) graphics card and an Intel i5 8th Gen CPU. The laptop also comes with 8GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive. It is currently available with a price tag of Rs. 87,990.
Here's how you will know if your friend just blocked you on Facebook.
Facebook is one of the best social media platforms to share your pictures or thoughts. While people make over thousands of friends, there are often times when one of those friends will end up blocking you due to a fight or some drama. So, here's how you can check if he literally blocked you before crying over it for weeks.
Be it a good thing or a bad one, Facebook does not notify you that you have been blocked by a certain person. The only time you will get a doubt is when you stop seeing their posts or likes on your posts.
One of the most common ways of checking if the friend has blocked you is to search for his profile using the Facebook search bar. If you are unable to find your friend using the search bar, you might have been blocked by the person. However, there is still a chance as this also happens when the user has deleted his profile from Facebook.
Now there is another way to be certain about whether they have deleted their account or they have blocked you. You can head over to a mutual friend's profile and search their friend list using the Friends box. If you end up finding the friend on their list, the person has definitely blocked you on Facebook. However, if you still don't find them there, the good news is they have just deleted their profile and not the friendship.
Aptoide will replace Google Play Store on Huawei smartphones.
The whole news section is currently filled with names like Huawei and Google since the company banned the Chinese manufacturer from using Android services. While Huawei can still use Android as it is an open source project, they will not be able to provide their customers with Google services like Google Play Store, Gmail, YouTube and more.
While there are alternatives for all the other apps, there is not a very good alternative available for the Google Play Store. So, Huawei decided to work with Aptoide in order to replace the Google Play Store on their devices. Aptoide has been around for years and it is an alternative for Play Store where users can find a ton of Android apps.
Since a company as big as Huawei is planning to make Aptoide its primary app store, they will have to work and fix a ton of things on the app store. The CEO of Aptoide, Paulo Trezentos, has confirmed that they will be working with Huawei for this. As Aptoide is a Portuguese company, the US ban should not affect the partnership.
For those who are unaware, Huawei also has an alternative OS built to go along with the Aptoide app store. The Hongmeng OS is being developed by Huawei and it will be able to support all the Android applications.
Though Huawei is working to bring Aptoide to its smartphones, the company also has its own app store called Huawei App Gallery. Now it is not yet clear whether the comapny will implement Aptoide into their existing app store or they will provide it as a different app store on the upcoming Android devices.
Even if the company solves the problem of the app store by bringing an alternative to the Play Store, they will still have a tough time selling phones outside China. A lot of the applications that people use rely on Google services on some way or the other. Apart from that, many of the popular applications like WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook won't be available as they all are from US-based companies.
